


The Complete Guide for Courting Etiquette: the Do's and Don’ts of a Royal Engagement 4th Edition

by GourdKin



Series: By the Book [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Advice, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Camping, Clothed Sex, Coming In Pants, Courting Rituals, Cunnilingus, Dry Humping, Engagement, F/M, First Time, Gardens, Glove Kink, Gloves, Kissing, Love Confessions, Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Porn with Feelings, Rain, Rules, Sign Language, Sweet, Teasing, Tent Sex, Thirsting, Thirsty Zelda, Thunderstorms, Training, Vaginal Fingering, faron - Freeform, link is a twunk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-27 00:13:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20398480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GourdKin/pseuds/GourdKin
Summary: Rainstorms, gloves, and the royal engagement of the century. Link is probably the most maddening person in all of Hyrule, but Zelda still loves him terribly so and desperately wants to bone.





	The Complete Guide for Courting Etiquette: the Do's and Don’ts of a Royal Engagement 4th Edition

**Author's Note:**

> This is very, very thinly veiled porn with no plot. I had some inspiration about a hot little headcanon between these two and, 3 sleepless night later, it turned into my first ever fully written fanfiction. Someone help me. Please enjoy my lapse of sanity as I did making it.

Link was the most maddening man Zelda had ever met in her entire  _ life.  _ He was brash and a little bit stubborn and he couldn’t be bothered to listen when she ordered him to give her some space. Duty, honor, and propriety always seemed to be at the forefront of his decision-making process and yet he was also the epicenter for reckless ideas. It had put such a strain on their relationship from the beginning. Zelda would act, Link would respond, something nuanced would go awry, and the cycle would repeat. It always seemed like Link was handling her with kid gloves and it had driven Zelda wild.

The pair was past the point of such unyielding moments being intolerable. Instead, Zelda thought of Link's quirks as fondly as she could, as she knew that she had her own as well that he had to adjust to. After all, it was up to lovers to overcome the adversity between them and for their love to become stronger for it.

Yes, Link and Zelda were lovers. Emphasize on the "love" part. Link, in what Zelda now knew was a lapse of self-control, had professed his love for her after one of their more sordid spats that had involved her calculating, biting insults and his own fingers flying rapidly as he tried to communicate his own frustration. Zelda couldn't even remember what they had been arguing over, but she could distinctly remember what had ended it. They were squabbling in a field while out on an expedition when the sky cracked open and Hylia's own fury began to rain down on their heads. Literally. They were soaked by the time they made it under an abandoned covering to wait out the rain.

Zelda had turned to him, with the full intent of resuming their fighting. But his eyes were fiercer than she'd ever seen and were zeroed in on the way her wet garments clung to her torso. Just the look in her eyes stopped all of the words on her tongue as if she, too, were mute. Then Link reached a hot, wide hand out to clasp her waist and pulled her over to himself. She could feel his hands on her like they were leaving brands through their clothing and then she felt his lips, just as hot, leaving butterfly kisses on her face. She involuntarily gasped and his mouth was on hers from that point on. And there was no more talking for the rest of their trip, as they had momentarily found better things to do with their mouths.

Thankfully, they did have a conversation upon returning to the castle about their relationship and feelings that had been both agonizing and glorious. It seemed that the tension between them was a product of their own attraction headbutting with their forced relationship. Link had been forthwith about his intentions and even declared his intention in front of King Rhoam and the entire court of Hyrule. As a result, they began to court.

It was joyous and filled Zelda's heart with all kinds of soft, sweet things that warmed her up just making eye contact with her new lover and guard.

But it was always irritating as  _ hell _ .

Link always did everything by the book, and he took to courting Zelda just as seriously as he did guarding her. After her father had given his approval, Link had shown up that very same night at her door.

“Link?” She hadn’t expected him and, once she’d opened the door and let him in, she realized that she was in one of her rattier nightgowns. Had Zelda known she’d have a visitor tonight she would have worn one of the breezier, pastel nightgowns and maybe even some lacy panties that Purah had given her secretly as her coming of age present. But Link wasn’t like that. He’d like anything she wore or  _ didn’t _ wear. She reached her hand out to him. “Come over he-”

But Link gracefully sidestepped her fingers, slipping away like water, and moved into the sitting room attached to her quarters. He sat rigidly on a couch and it was then that Zelda noticed that he was still dressed in a stiff court jacket, with military embellishments and tan cow-skin gloves and his boots laced up light. It was the ensemble that he proclaimed his devotion in front of an entire audience with deft flicks of those very gloved fingers. Zelda went to join him, but he shook his head before she could sit next to him and pointed the plush armchair that sat opposite the couch. Bemused, she perched there instead and crossed her knee over the other.

“What are you still doing dressed like that? Court was hours ago.”

He looked up at her guiltily and, until their eyes met, she hadn’t noticed that he had been avoiding eye contact. He looked feverish, but not in the alluring way from those stolen moments in the rain.

_ I’m sorry, your Highness _ , he signed,  _ I’ve been overstepping and I wanted to let you know that I won’t do it again. _

Zelda was stunned. “‘Overstepping?’ Link, what are you going on about?”

He pulled a slim book, obviously travel-sized, out of his jacket pocket and threw it onto the table between their seats.  _ The Complete Guide for Courting Etiquette: the Do's and Don’ts of a Royal Engagement 4th Edition  _ looked up at her, with its title in lilting script and a pair of rings illustrated on the cover. It looked like Link had stolen it straight from the palace library. He must have gone there straight after dinner and looked for the book. She could see in her mind’s eye his awkward gait in the room as he struggled to find what he was looking for. It explained the hours of time that he had been gone. Link definitely wouldn’t have stopped to consult a librarian or checked the registry himself. It was odd enough to imagine him lost in those endless rooms without her that she momentarily forgot what they had been talking about as her chest warmed with affection.

She reached across the coffee table for his face, but Link brushed her hands away and stood up. 

_ Princess, I never should have laid my hands on you,  _ Link made for a quick retreat out of reach of hands. His eyes cut the bare skin of her shins that was bared by her sitting position and backed up even further. His hands were busy, gloved fingers making shapes too fast for her to really understand. But she caught “apology” and “beg forgiveness” and “code” and “book” as she struggled to make sense of his behavior.

He seemed so flustered and tormented. Zelda longed to go to him and soothe the furrow of his brow and tangle her fingers through his hair and possibly pull it from where it was tied behind his head. She wanted to sink into his embrace again, but that seemed like the last thing he wanted to do right now.

“You don’t have to apologize for anything. It’s not like we did anything nonconsensual. What has you so worked up?”

There was over eight feet of distance between them before Link deemed it enough to stop his retreat.  _ I’ve broken some of the most important rules before we’ve even properly begun our courtship, your Highness. If I had known- _

Zelda tried to put a stop to his fumbling explanation. “That doesn’t matter to me. Those rules are ridiculous and no one follows them anymore.” All he sent her in response was a dark, guilty look from under his bangs. She’d had enough and went to stalk after him. Zelda could eat her embarrassment if it meant being able to talk Link out of his “I liked what we did the other day. A lot, Link. And it meant more to me than just some touching.”

He started to panic at her approach, but his eyes softened when started talking.

“Unless you didn’t like it?” That train of thought stopped her dead in her tracks. What if Link had thought about it and realized that he actually didn’t want to be in a relationship with her. Zelda knew that she wasn’t perfect either; she could be bossy and got caught up in books to often and was easily frustrated and had outbursts and they had been arguing before they’d kissed that first time anyway.

Link vehemently signed  _ No, I liked it very much. _

“Then what’s the problem?”

He sighed and scrubbed his hands over his eyes.  _ What we did wasn’t proper, you Highness. It was wrong. _

“Link, who cares about proper?”

That straightened his back. Link squared his shoulders and set his jaw determinedly, though there was still a red flush to his ears from his earlier admission. Zelda recognized that look in his eyes. It was the one he made before doing something stupid and wild, always in the name of honor and duty and propriety. Zelda felt an aching realization settle in her stomach, there was a little dread, but also-something about Link’s determined eyes set her heart aflutter. Their eyes met briefly before he fixed his gaze above her head.

_ This means a lot to me as well, Your Highness. I want to do it right. _

And, with that, Link beat a hasty retreat out of her rooms.

◇

So.

They started to do things “right.”

That meant chaperones and measuring the distance between them at all times and minding where she went to put her hands lest Link dance out of their reach and to the other side of a room. It was driving her crazy. Zelda had never considered herself a particularly lustful person before, but just knowing that she couldn’t touch her new lover past his elbows and definitely not without someone else’s watchful eye. They spent time in the library, but they were always separated by the ornate reading tables. They were seated next to each other at dinner, but were required to keep both hands in sight on the table. They would go for sunset strolls in the sprawling gardens, but there was always the ever-present gaze of a member of the castle staff or one of the older court ladies or even the fellow champions.

Her father loved it. He thought it was, as Link’s had said, “the right thing to do” and, if he ever accompanied the young couple, the conversation mostly centered around him reminiscing his own courting with Zelda’s mother.

Zelda  _ hated  _ it. Now that she had taken the time to her confess her feelings for Link and lived through that embarrassing ordeal she felt starved for his affection. Not all of it was sexual. She merely wanted to put her hands on him and soak up some of his warmth. Every little thing he would do would light her heart on fire. The slope of his nose in the morning sun. The way his hair would sometimes flutter in the breeze. His strong hands as they shaped out words. 

God, his hands.

Link had the nicest hands Zelda had ever seen. Wide, blunt fingers and sturdy palms that could grasp anything. He could notch arrow or deftly weld any number of the weapons in the palace armory with expertise. But he was also heartbreakingly gentle with those same hands. One of their excursions had been a morning ride through Hyrule Field. Zelda had almost tackled him when she saw him petting Epona in the fresh light of the early morning. If she knew a way to get around Link’s impervious defenses she would have and they would’ve never made it out of that stable.

But Link was very good at evasion. Zelda knew it objectively, as the fact that he was a skilled fighter was irrefutable. Yet, now she had real practice with how slippery he could be. He was always just out of reach. Oh, how she longed to be back into his arms again. To feel the flex and release of his muscle under her fingertips again. Every time she watched him craft words with his hands, it brought her back to that afternoon in the rain and felt the phantom heat of his touch and it made her light-headed.

She watched him now. They were outside in the training guards, surrounded by military officials, soldiers, and the like. Link had been training with the mastersword, just simply practicing form, when some of the palace guard had approached. They began a series of sparring matches, all with Link as the main opponent. He was thoroughly and easily handing all of them their behinds. Every now and then, one of them would get good swing in or a pair would execute a successful combination attack. But then Link would deepen his fighting stance and charge forward with some reserved power and take the advantage right back. All the while grinning in a way that could only be described as rogueish. 

Zelda felt just a little hot under the collar, which was rather odd. It was late summer, but she was resting under a wide tree with some book open to a random page in her lap. She shouldn’t feel so warm, even in the midday heat.

“It’s nice of you to join us out here, princess.” Zelda looked up at Mipha’s approach, but, like clockwork, flicked her gaze back to Link in intervals. “Do you mind if I join you? The sun is a bit too much for me right now.”

She lowered down to sit next to Zelda in the shade of the tree and leaned her back against the rough bark.

“Oh, hello, Mipha. I was just over here reading,” She lifted the book in her lap up to display it, only to realize that it was, embarrassingly, upside down. Zelda felt her ears getting hot and guiltily put the book back down. Now that she was looking at it, she realized that it was  _ the Complete Guide of Courting Etiquette _ .

Mipha took in the cover of the little booklet with a pitying look in her eyes. “The mechanisms of courting are rather complex, aren’t they? In a Zora courtship, it is required for both parties to first-”

Unwillingly, Zelda’s eyes were drawn back to where Link was deftly evading and parrying blows from fellow soldiers. She knew it was rude to zone out while being spoken to, but she just couldn’t help herself. The heat must have been getting to him as well. There was color high in his cheeks and the back of his shirt was sticking to his wide shoulders damply with sweat. The soldiers seemed to be taking a break for water and one of them passed Link a large waterskin. Link took it and she noticed that he had a pair of brown gloves. Zelda knew they were the woolen ones with pads of rough leather sewn into the palm and fingertips. He used them to improve his grip on weapons are harsher climates. She’d seen them come out mostly during their trek up Mount Lanayru to the Spring of Wisdom. They must have been hot for this weather, but it seemed like he needed the extra grip to combat the heat and slippery sweat. Zelda could just imagine how warm his hands would be in her skin. How smoothly they would slide over her skin, damp and hot like that day in the rain.

Just then, Link’s wool-covered fingers went to the hem is his tunic and, in a motion almost too swift to track with her eyes, pulled it right over his head. He used to fabric to mop at the sweat dampening the bangs. Zelda’s jaw dropped as she took in the shifting muscles of his back and the pull of his biceps. There were other men scattered around the field that had taken their shirts off, but Zelda’s eyes were drawn only to Link.

“-ness! Your Highness!”

Zelda was startled out of her gaping and looked over toward Mipha again, who tracked her gaze over to Link and blushed as well at the picture he made. “Oh my, it seems he’s...hmm, he’s...you know.”

“Oh, I  _ know _ .” Zelda was staring in full now. “He’s driving me  _ wild _ .”

Both women looked on at the scene that was beginning to play out like some scandalous boudoir show. Link finished the rest of the water, but some spilled out of the corner of his mouth to dribble down his neck and the ridges of collarbones. He turned toward them and shook his hair out. The sunlight made the lines of muscles in his abdomen glitter with sweat. Zelda honestly thought she was drooling. He looked like a golden statue. But Zelda knew that instead of being cold and hard, if she were to touch him, he would radiate lush, vital heat.

Mipha turned her eyes away from Link's showcase, and Zelda could see the color risen high in her lovely face. "I know he makes this...  _ challenging _ , princess, but at least you know he's serious." She tried to reason with the princess.

“Such dedication to rules, that he probably could’ve ignored, means that Link wants to do this properly and, quite possibly, permanently. Courtships usually happen with the intent of marriage and I simply think that Link doesn’t want to leave a doubt in anyone’s mind that those are his intentions with you.” She smiled and Zelda could see the barest hint of sharp teeth. “I think it’s incredibly sweet.”

Link shook flaxen bangs out of his eyes and then seemed to notice his audience sitting tree side. He raised a gloved hand and waved over at the pair.

◇

Their courtship continued on like this. It was tantalizing to be so breathtakingly and heart-wrenchingly close to the one that she desired so much. He stayed just out of reach but was almost always there to tempt Zelda into stretching out her hands again and again.

It was only on dates like these that she got to physically touch Link. They would stroll through the gardens as dusk settled over Hyrule, arm in arm, heads lent together. Tonight, Urbosa was their chaperone and, thankfully, she was ignoring the couple and letting them flirt to their hearts’ content. Zelda had never imagined that she would  _ ever _ be flirting carefreely with anyone, let alone her personal guard. But these days they had it done to an easy science. Link would say clever little things with twists of his hands and Zelda would stifle her giggled behind her own. Zelda would interject comments under her breath that only he could hear and Link would make a show of how amused he was. Generally, they just luxuriated in each other’s company.

Garden dates were probably the most romantic because of their lush setting. Artfully designed, the gardens of Hyrule castle were as much a thing of beauty as they were a horticulture hub. Attempts had been made to domesticate as many plants from remote locations all around Hyrule. Various types of Safflinas, delicate herbs, and even the more appealing of vegetables were installed along with trees and just about any flower that the gardener could successfully grow. The layout of the garden was radial and almost floral in nature as well. A large fountain sprung in the middle, surrounded by green grass with arching pathways to the installments, that branched out like petals from the center. 

This was also Zelda’s favorite way to see Link, surrounded by greenery on all sides and dappled in orange by the light of the setting sun. It cast shadows on the planes of his handsome face that always drew her eyes and made deeper colors stand out in his irises. But more than just beauty, Link looked at home in such a natural setting. He was something a thousand times more relaxed here than he ever was inside the walls of Hyrule castle. His shoulders were loose, brows gentle, and a smile teasing at the shape of his lips. Whether in the castle or beyond the walls, she never got to see her guard so serene.

She’d asked once, why he seemed comfortable here, but so tense when they were abroad.

_ Your safety is my top priority when we travel, your Highness. _ He’d answered.  _ Within the castle gates there isn’t as much danger. _

Zelda felt guilt start to seep across her tongue, but then Link had flushed so deeply his ears were completely red and continued.  _ I like it here because I don’t have to worry about how lovely you look amongst the flowers being a distraction. _

That had made Zelda just as pink in the cheeks, but she’d also snuggled just that much closer to his shoulder.

Now, Link led her to the ornate fountain in the garden’s center and gestured for her to sit. There was a ring of wide, shady trees that encircled the fountain before it gave way to a clearing before the garden installments. The fountain’s lip was wide and patterned with lovely tile work that was reminiscent of Gerudo work. It made a perfect seat to overlook the sprawling greens in front of her. Link went off to busy himself with something or other and, eventually, Urbosa wandered over.

“You and that boy are absolutely smitten.” She said, leaning against one of the trees and stretching her neck elegantly. “I had my doubts, at first, but I think he’s quite good for you.”

Zelda felt herself pink just a little, in satisfaction, and turned her gaze longingly back to her lover had ran off. “Yes, I think so, to-”

But Urbosa cut her off.

She turned eyes that were sharp and mischievous like a cat’s to Zelda and said, “But the real question is if he’s any  _ good _ though. Isn’t it, your highness?”

The lovesick grin that had been stamped on her face since Link had offered his arm finally slipped from her face and a pout was starting to take over. Zelda could also feel her face getting noticeably warmer, but there was no one her to be embarrassed with like there had been on the training field the other day. She crossed her arms over her chest and refused to be fazed by any teasing. “I wouldn’t know, would I? Not with all these silly courting rules.”

Urbosa laughed then, in part at the ridiculously childish look on Zelda’s face and in sympathy to the young woman’s plight. “Sex is a large responsibility, princess. It’s always good to take some time to think clearly and make sure that you don’t do anything you’d regret.”

“No, I don’t think you understand. He gave me a whole guidebook to follow.” Zelda puffed her cheeks up and then blew the air out noisily. “It’s driving me insane, Urbosa. How am I supposed to live like this?”

Moving over to sit next to Zelda, Urbosa placed a hand on the princess’ shoulder and rubbed it soothingly in comfort. She dipped her head to speak without the notice of any prying ears. “Might I suggest going over those rules again, Your Highness? If you’re truly ready for such intimacy then I’m sure you can find some...how do you say it again? Loopholes? In those rules.”

Zelda’s head jerked towards Urbosa’s, where she was smiling wickedly.

“Oh.”

Just then Link came bounding out of a section of the garden, before pausing and beginning to approach the fountain at a much more dignified pace. He was backlit but the sunset, which was just barely peeking over the horizon at this point, and twilight was beginning to settle around him like a cape. It cast his hair and eyes paler than ever, almost silvery in comparison to their usual respective blond and blue. Those eyes darted nervously over to Urbosa, before he drew in a breath and squared his shoulders. Once in front of Zelda, he moved the hand had been previously behind his back and presented Zelda with a small bouquet of ...flowers?

It was getting too dim to see clearly, but from the slightly stained look on Link’s face, Zelda would say he was blushing quite deeply. He raised his other hand to rub at his jaw and then Zelda noticed what pair of gloves he was wearing today. They were smooth and grey and bared just a hint of his palms. Zelda had never seen this exact pair before and they looked new, but she recognized the material. Sandseal skin. She could almost imagine how soft they would feel on her skin. Something like that would glide almost like water over the delicate skin of her neck, her stomach, over even her inner thighs. And they would be cool and slippery to the touch like glass. What they feel like  _ wet _ ? She suddenly wondered furiously.

Urbosa coughed and pulled Zelda from her inner ravings, nodding her head toward the outstretched bouquet. It was blue nightshade that was beginning to glow as night blanketed the sky, bundled with sprigs of sweet-smelling grass and a single string of ivy. When Zelda took the bouquet, her fingers brushed against Link’s soft, gloved ones and Urbosa coughed again.

“ _ Oh. _ ” 

That night, Link walked her all the way back to her room and, under Urbosa’s watchful gaze, gave her a chaste kiss on the corner of her mouth. Zelda took his hands and those ridiculous gloves in her own and pulled him back in for another one. Normally, she would be much more conservative about such a display in front of an audience, but her recent revelation had her too excited to care. It was Urbosa, for Hylia’s sake. She thought this whole thing was hilarious anyway. 

Link made a noise of surprise low in his throat, but readily kissed her back. They were pressed together from knee to hip, with their hands clutched between them like they were hiding something precious from the outside world. Zelda reached one hand back to his low ponytail and took it in her fist, not pulling, just grasping it firmly and then she bit down his lip. 

Hard.

The shock forced his mouth to drop open and Zelda almost lunged forward to get her tongue in along with his, but then-

Zelda felt those soft gloves on her shoulders, so soft and smooth, and then she was hauled back about a foot. Link’s eyes were just a little glazed over and he was breathing heavy, almost panting at the suddenness of her attack. Zelda took a step out of his reach herself and, though her lips were buzzing and she could feel his hands on her like he had physically burned her with them. That seemed to surprise Link more than anything else she’d just done. He shook his head as if to orient himself again and cleared his throat. She just smiled.

“Thank you for the lovely evening, Link. And for the flowers. They’re lovely.” She brought the bouquet up to her lips. It was vaguely crushed between the press of their hands, but was no less beautiful. “I’ll see you tomorrow, love.”

She and Urbosa slipped into her room, leaving a stunned Link in the hall to recover from whatever  _ that  _ was.

◇

It was rare to see Zelda without  _ The Complete Guide for Courting Etiquette: the Do's and Don’ts of a Royal Engagement 4th Edition _ after that. She carried her with it almost constantly, to lessons and meals and even on dates. There was always parchment and a pen wedged along the spine that she would often be seen making notes on if there was any downtime. It caused quite a stir among the courtiers, as her indignation for the pamphlet was thinly veiled at best, but anyone who wanted to avoid a tongue lashing from the princess herself knew best to keep their gossip quiet when she passed by.

Since that night in the gardens, Zelda had also become increasingly bold. She would snag Link by the shoulders and press him into alcoves and pillars just out of sight and almost attack him with kisses and heavy petting. Without fail, he would sink into contact and readily kiss back. But then his conscience would catch up with him and Zelda would pull away the moment she felt him stiffen. Once she’d even gotten as far as slipping her fingers under his tunic and running her nails along the solid muscles in his abdomen, pulling a startled,  _ hungry  _ sound out of Link.

Despite how decadent it was to be in Link’s arms, Zelda always made sure to pull away first. It was, of course, the first step to the master plan she had developed.

She’d spent the past couple weeks pouring over the Courting guide, trying to find any loophole possible. And she finally had it. Now she just had to get Link to drop his propriety for a few damn minutes and actually talk to her about it. That’s what all the kissing attacks were about. Phase one was about breaking his ironclad will down with just a little teasing. And it was working perfectly. Link was now distracted at best, sometimes full-on dopey at his worst. She’d never seen him get taken down so many times while training before and he was starting to become rather forgetful. Zelda almost felt bad about it, when she’d put space between them and see the high flush on his cheekbones or the way his lips always looked swollen and tender. But then she’d remember just  _ who  _ had started this and all that guilt would dry up. She felt very satisfied, these days, like the cat that had finally gotten the canary, but there was still more yet to come.

Things were going so well that Zelda decided she could move onto phase two. And so the pair packed up horses with a few days rations and set out on a journey to Faron and the Spring of Courage. They rode easily, unaccompanied by any of the other champions for once.

“I just want to be without any possible distractions,” she told her father when he had asked. “Link is plenty enough to protect me and there’s no need for a chaperone. It’s not like this is a date. We’re going to get something important done.”

She’d said that, but the only thing that was going to get done on this trip was, hopefully, her.

It’s like Link could feel her dishonest intentions, but he, as usual, didn’t argue. That didn’t keep him from keeping a cautious distance between their horses and casting looks over at Zelda that were one part worried and one part nervous and several parts excited.

Zelda kept her hands to herself, though. Instead, she was taking the time to watch Link closely and go over her plans in her head. It was the second day of her trip and they’d passed the first mostly in silence, enjoying nature and just watching each other. He was in a sturdier set of clothing then he usually wore, the material of a Hylian Tunic thick, but not quite armor yet. He still cut an impressive figure as they made their way over Lake Hylia. At first glance, Zelda might have called his straight-backed posture astride Epona “princely,” but the longer she observed him, the more wild he looked. His boots had heavier soles than a prince would ever wear and far dirtier too. His hair, the spun gold that it was, also looked just a little bit too messy. She’d could even see, from the angle that horseback granted her, blond stubble was beginning to come in around his lips and his jaw. She longed to reach out and touch it.

It was just as the pair had fully crossed into Faron and Zelda was admiring the way Epona’s movements made Link’s hips bop lazily, that the rain started to fall.

It was a typical Faron thunderstorm, which meant that they were both quickly soaked and needed to get out of the rain as soon as possible. Or risk Link getting fried. Zelda had made a joke about him being “so attractive that even lightning wanted him” once, but then it had actually happened once and she’d never said another word about it otherwise. She wasn’t worried too much today, Zelda had been watching signs for the weather and had planned for a storm to disrupt their travel. 

They found a large, secure awning, safe from any lightning and nestled between two jutting cliff faces, much like the one that they’d first confessed their feelings under. The symbolism was not lost to Zelda.

Link got down off of Epona and went to help her down from her own, stretching a hand clad in a simple black leather glove up for the princess to grab. Feeling the buttersoft leather against her own hands brought goosebumps down her arms. She almost ecstatic with how smoothly everything was going.

_ We’ll probably be stopped here for a while, your Highness.  _ Link signed once she was on the ground.  _ I’ll work on putting up the tent and starting a fire. Would you get out the dry clothes? _

Zelda did. She got out a simple shirt and pants for Link and for herself...something else. She’d gone to great pains to sneak the skimpy nightgown into their supplies, but now she was just steps away from getting exactly what she wanted. 

“Here, love,” She threw him the bundle of clothes and ducked into tent that Link had pitched quite quickly. Hopefully, he’d be pitching another kind of tent very soon. 

She felt her hands shake with excited nerves as she wiggled out of her wet clothes. The pair had been courting for a few months now and gone was the terror that had accompanied those first emotional leaps of faith. Especially after the past few weeks of stolen kisses. But Zelda still felt giddy with love and butterflies at the thought of what she was about to do. Maybe those feelings would never go away. She sure hoped so.

The nightgown was pulled over her head and she felt it flutter ticklish at the top of her thighs. It was a simple white silk thing, with delicate, thin straps that didn’t want to stay over her shoulders. The hem was embroidered with blue flowers that looked almost like the elusive Silent Princess and was maybe just a little too short to cover her rear. That stopped her for a moment, thinking the gown was quite possibly the wrong size, but then she realized that was the intended purpose of such a thing. Zelda smoothed her own hands down her front and brushed her wet hair behind her shoulder before calling out.

“Link, could come help me with something in here, please?”

Always quick to attention, Link was pulling back the tent flaps before she was even done speaking. But when he got a good look at her, he stopped stiff in the threshold, his jaw slowly dropping in shock. Before he could turn tail and hide from her, Zelda gestured him over.

“Come here please.” Link followed orders perfectly and this time was no exception, though his eyes were currently darting all over the tent. As he approached Zelda with the same caution he usually reserved for wild animals, his eyes would land on her before shifting to some corner or the other, before always settling back on her. “Sit with me please.” She nodded to the bedrolls that she’d haphazardly thrown down. “We have some things to discuss.”

Link eyed the blankets like they were going to jump up and bite him. He signed rapidly, thankfully still with those leather gloves on his hands,  _ I can’t. I can’t.  _ Over and over again.

Zelda sunk to the tent floor and patted a spot next to her, smiling innocently. “ _ Down _ , Link. Don’t make me repeat myself.”

As if his knees had simply turned soft, Link collapsed gracelessly next. But he was still careful to not let any of his skin touch her. Physical contact or not, she could feel his eyes caressing over her bare shoulders, the curves of her exposed legs, the way her breasts hinted through the nightgown’s thin fabric. She watched as Link took a hard swallow that made his Adam’s apple bob. All the while, Zelda just kept smiling, though there was a touch of red to her own ears now.

“I wanted to talk to you about this,” she said as she pulled out  _ The Complete Guide for Courting Etiquette: the Do's and Don’ts of a Royal Engagement 4th Edition  _ out from amongst the blankets. “And I want to talk to you, my dear, about some glaringly obvious loopholes.”

Link looked surprised when she’d pulled out the small book, but, as she continued, his eyes widen in something akin to wonder and, if the tilt of his lips was anything to go by, amusement.  _ Loopholes? _ He signed, and let his eyes wander down to the embroidered edge of Zelda’s nightgown as it sat precariously covering her lap.

Zelda pulled the paper with all of her scribbled notes out of the book’s pages and said, “I took the time to go through all of the rules of engagement for physical contact and intimacy and I think I’ve compiled quite a thorough list of what and how we could... be together, so to say.”

He raised his eyes back to her and nodded, as if to say  _ go on _ .

His eyes were so intense, like the blue fire of the ancient tech, that she started to stumble over the next part. “W-well. Uh, firstly...we’re not an actual date so, um, there’s no need for chaperones or to monitor the distance between each other.” At this, Link slide just a little bit closer to her and Zelda could feel heat radiate off of his body. She rushed to get the next part out. “And the biggest rule, about, uh, the one about your hands and skin contact...uh, wait, I have it written down here.”

She read out loud from her notes. “‘The courter shall not lay a bare hand upon the skin of the target of their affections without the watchful eye of a chaperoning party, lest a movement be made toward impropriety-’” Zelda cut off and tried to swallow around her suddenly dry throat. Link was watching her.  _ Intently. _ That sensation was nothing new, of course. He was an excellent bodyguard and always had at least a fraction of his attention on her at all times. But this was very different from any other gaze he’d cast on her before. His eyes were roving over all of the skin on display and, with the dim light of only the fire outside, she could swear they gleamed like a wild animals’. Such a look made it hard to keep her breath steady, but she wasn’t going to let anything scare her away from her prize. 

She cleared her throat and Link looked up from studying the folds of fabric at her way. “Um, so all we have to do is not... _ touch _ ,” 

He looked at her, confused. 

“I mean-!” She rushed to correct herself. “We just can’t touch with our bare skin.”

Zelda looked pointedly at the gloved fingers Link had over his lap. They were laced together as if it was all he could do to keep his hands to himself and it seemed that they were positioned just so as to cover the bulge in his trousers. Today, his gloves were black and worn. She knew that he often wore them for riding and handling course materials that could be found in the wild. She was so close to having those same gloves handle her.

Link was also contemplating his hands. He broke them apart and flexed his fingers, clenching and unclenching. 

And then.

Lightning struck just outside of the tent and, for a second, everything illuminated in brilliant, white light. With a speed as deadly and accurate as that bolt of thunder, Link struck his hand out and grabbed a hold of Zelda’s ankles, swiftly pulling her flat on her back on the tent floor. Within seconds, he was braced over her, weight carefully balanced on one forearm so that none of him was actually touching her. Her notes were lost somewhere in the messy blankets. One of his hands came up and Zelda had to pull her eyes away from the corded muscle that was displayed in his bicep by the position to see what he was saying.

There was a smirk on his mouth, so wide and wolfish that it hardly looked like a smile at all. He was all rake and rouge as he looked down at the princess, his eyes sparkling with mischief and gloved fingers making quick words in the air. She forced herself to pay attention to them.  _ Clever, princess _ , he signed,  _ But how far do you expect this to go without skin contact? _

Zelda felt herself flushing darker. By this point, she wasn’t sure how that was possible, but she made a valiant effort. There was an electric moment that passed in the inches left between their bodies. It was a moment that Zelda took to mourn her loss of the upper hand in this situation. He had her effectively pinned down and she’d seen him in action to know that changing the position wasn’t easily in the cards for her.

Mentally, she cursed her hubris. Sure, she’d knocked his guard down and gotten him plenty worked over the past few weeks and done an excellent job of getting them out from under the watchful eyes of the Hyrule court. But, by taking them out into the wilderness, she’d lost her hard-earned advantage. Outside of the walls of the palace, Link was always a little different. He was primed to pounce, a knot of coiled muscles and senses on the ready to respond to any threat. As she saw the way flickering firelight glinted off of his teeth, she felt stupid for ever thinking of her love as some as tame as a “prince.” In that moment, he was almost feral.

“Well, we won’t be able to go...all the way.” He raised a golden eyebrow, looking for all the world like the arrogant bastard she’d gotten glimpses of at practice fields. The tilt of his head was almost condescending in that moment. She wanted to wipe that smirk off of this face. “But we could do other stuff. We could both, y’know, get off.”

He leaned forward, closing those last few inches left between them, and ran his lips along Zelda’s hairline. His lips barely made contact, but she felt the point of contact acutely and shivered. Link inhaled deeply and made a curious noise, as if to prompt her to  _ Go on. _

But Zelda had enough of talking.

There was no more convincing to be done. In fact, Zelda arched her back and brought her hips up to brush along the line of Link’s. She could feel his hardness through his trousers press hotly against her hip bone and it took all of her willpower not to melt under him. One of her most defining aspects was how stubborn she was and Zelda pushed on, slipping her knees open and framing his waist with her bare thighs. Her little white gown slid just a few inches higher and, all of a sudden, Link didn’t look so self-satisfied anymore.

If anything, he seemed entranced.

“You just have to keep your clothes on and...” Zelda swallowed. This was the moment that she’d been waiting months for. Since the very first time Link had kneeled at her feet and taken her hand in one of his. “Touch me with the gloves on.”

Link, with his eyes still on her bare thighs, nodded slowly. Zelda ducked her head in return, but he wasn’t watching. He was lowering the rest of his weight on her, truly pinning the princess down now. But she loved it. His whole body was hot, like sitting just a little too close to a fire and he was just heavy enough to put the faintest of pressure on her breathing. He was close enough to smell, trace amounts of sweat and hay and something metallic like the weapons he carried in droves. She realized in that moment that this was where she would always want to be. She could travel all across Hyrule, throughout as many lifetimes as possible, and Zelda would always want to be by Link.

She gasped, because the next thing she felt was rough cotton on her soft skin. Link took hold of her legs and pulled them just a fraction further, his gloved thumbs pressing hard into the delicate skin of her inner thighs. Zelda was almost vibrating. One of his hands smoothed over her thigh, like he was petting it and trying to feel her skin through the thick material of his glove. And, in the next moment, his hand was sweeping up her leg and right under the hem of her nightgown and Link was making a wounded sound deep in his chest as his clothed fingers came in direct contact with her unclothed cunt. 

Zelda felt her ears burn. In her rush to plan this evening out, she’d forgotten the matching panties that she’d wanted to wear under the gown. She knew exactly where they were sitting in her room, overlooked in favor of having the softest blankets packed for their travel instead. But Link didn’t seem to mind. The hand not under her skirt caught the skimpy hem of her gown and forced it up over her navel, baring her to his eyes from the waist down. His other hand got to work, cotton-covered thumb finding her clit between the nest of blonde curls between her thighs. The moment his fingers touched her folds, she could feel her own slick turning the fabric damp and heavy. His gloves were deeply worn and she could feel the heat of his hands radiant through the rough cotton. Link pet one of those fingers down her slit and Zelda tilted her head back to luxuriate in the feeling.

Link was finally touching her. She’d been longing for him to put his hands on her like this since their embrace in the rain and, she admitted to herself, long before that too. Zelda had been dreaming about his touch for almost as long as she had known him. Even when they spent their days in quiet contempt or rapid argument, Zelda would fantasize about spreading her open like this and using his daft warriors’ hands to pull orgasm after orgasm out of her. Nights she’d woken up soaking wet and frustrated or even more. She could feel it now, building low, right under the gloved hand that was rubbing soothing circles on her belly.

It felt so good to be  _ touched _ .

One of his fingertips pushed into the seam of her pussy, shallowly rocking in, and Zelda’s breath caught before she could properly moan. She made a move to lock her ankles behind his back and grasp his wide, clothed shoulders in her hands, but he snagged her hips with his idle hand and yanked them right up. Her legs were now slung over his back, combined with the press of his body over hers, she was bent neatly almost in half. Her nightgown managed to keep her breasts covered, but her nippled were peaked so steeply in excitement that their shape was obvious through the flimsy silk. 

Zelda was so absorbed by her state of disarray that she almost didn’t notice Link signing. It was the absence of his fingers on her cunt that made her lookup.

_ Can I kiss you?  _ He signed. His gaze was so hot that she could almost feel it burn her skin. He looked positively wild.  _ Down here? _

In shock, Zelda gasped out a “yes” and Link fell on her like he was half-starved and she was a choice cut of steak. One of his hands went back to clit, working it over between the rough, wet cotton of his thumb and forefinger. The angle of her legs opened her cunt easily, so Link simply took a moment to lick the flat of his tongue over her slit, before he pointed it and went to work messily slurping along her cunt. Zelda was in heaven. She grabbed for fistfuls of his soft golden hair and tried to keep from jerking away as she felt the bristly scratch of his late-day stubble scrap over her nude thighs.

“Ah...Link!”

The other hand, the idle one, was on longer content to rest idly on her hip or belly. Link shoved his cotton-gloved hand under the silk that was bunched on her chest and pressed a warm palm to her breast. Then he rolled one of her nipples between his fingers. Zelda was being attacked in three merciless ways and she had no means of protection. She could feel her climax, steadily building and felt her shoulders and the muscles of her legs tense.

In one fell swoop, Link pinched her clit and nipple at the exact same time that he speared her pussy with his wicked tongue and the triforce of sensations threw her right into orgasm.

When Zelda came back to herself and fully opened her eyes, she had legs locked around Link’s precious head and her own nails digging deep into his scalp. His fingers had thankfully stopped moving, but he still lapped his tongue noisily over her pussy, working her through spasming waves of aftershock. Zelda groaned and opened her legs to let him back for air. The knight seemed reluctant to pull his mouth back, but, at her instant tugging of his hair, finally pulled back. But not without leaving a sucking kiss right over the seam of her cunt that made stars burst behind Zelda’s eyes.

As much as she wanted to let him go back to work and possibly draw out two or three more orgasms, Zelda was a princess on a mission. For mutual satisfaction. 

“Sit up, dear.” She gently urged. Link had lost some of his ferocity after his time spent with his face between her thighs and he just a dazed, feverish look in his eyes. “Please, sweetheart, sit back for me.”

Sluggishly, he tried to sign something as he sat back on his haunches between her spread legs, but it wasn’t clear beyond  _ Love  _ and the special sign he had made for her name. Zelda followed him right up and into his lap, planting herself right over the bulge in his trousers and the damp spot that was spreading there. She felt guilty for a moment that they had left him neglected for so long, but then Link bucked his clothed, rigid cock right up against her cunt.

Balanced as precariously as she was astride Link’s lap, Zelda was hesitant to move too recklessly, but she quickly forgot her reservations as even a simple grind made her ever-stoic bodyguard shake and grab a fistful of her thin nightgown. Link clutched at her back as she rocked in his lap and Zelda could feel the grasp start to stretch out the material.

It was Zelda’s turn to mess her lover up. She pulled his head to rest on the soft shelf of her breasts and stroked soothing fingers over his red ears before she leaned down as whispered filth directly into his ears.

“You’re so hard, sweetheart.” She felt a shred of awkwardness, but it quickly vanished when Link gasped against her silk-covered breasts at the words. Renewed, she continued her plan of attack. “I want to take you out of those silly pants and wrap my hand around you.”

She ground her hips over that tantalizing damp spot. “You must be so wet and hot. I bet you would feel so good in my hands. I can’t wait to put my hands on you.” Zelda threaded her fingers into his golden hair and pet through it. It was curling up sweetly by his ears, more boyish than Link had any right to be, and was a more burnished gold in spots where it was still wet. He hadn’t even properly dried off from the rainstorm that raged on just beyond their tent. Zelda had been so caught up she hadn’t even noticed. She desperately hoped he didn’t get a cold.

Her heart swelled with a love so potent that she thought it would have burst out of her chest and she kept talking. “I can’t wait until we’re married, dear, and we can do this as much as we want, whenever we want. As soon as we’re wed, I’m going to drag you to a bedroom and-”

But Zelda never got to finish, because the moment she said “married” Link had seized up and groaned lowly into her gown and then lost all of the strength in his muscles. He flopped down heavily on top of her before she could say anything else.

Again, she was struck with a profound sense of rightness as their bodies lay aligned in a delicate state of aftermath. He was still fully-dressed, from neck to socked feet, but it seemed like he was starting to slip into unconsciousness. Link’s trousers were stained and damp and his hair was in even more disarray than usual. Her own nightgown was stretched out and still bunched up too high and Zelda could feel an ache start to spread through her lower half at all the strain it had been put under tonight. That wasn’t what mattered right now.

Zelda stretched her arm over Link and grabbed for the softest blanket they had and pulled it over the pair. She felt something digging in her side and kicked it away.  _ The Complete Guide for Courting Etiquette: the Do's and Don’ts of a Royal Engagement 4th Edition _ knocked into the far tent wall and fell to the ground with a thunk. Link started to shift, but Zelda quickly soothed a hand over his back and settled him into sleep again. The thunderstorm still raged on outside, but the princess and the knight had their own world made up between and Zelda wanted nothing more.

Bonus:

When the door to the library creaked open, the pair of lovers only had so long to separate before whoever came in would be able to see their table. Link simply jumped back and put a respectful distance between himself and his betrothed. His hair was still a wild mess, but, then again, it always was so that wouldn’t be anything worth commenting on. Zelda, on the other hand, had to pull her panties back up and flip her skirt over her knees, before grabbing some random book off of the table she’d just been bent over. She had to look like there was actually a reason to require her knight in the library with her.

Under the guise of research on the divine goddess’ blessing, Zelda had Link meet her here. He has shown up in his wonderful palace guard uniform and those crisp, white gloves that accompanied the uniform and one thing lead to another. Two hours later and the couple had learned a lot, but not about the goddess. And mostly about how many of Link’s leather-gloved fingers they could fit inside her at one time.

Impa came bustling around a bookshelf just as Zelda had dropped into a chair and Link had fixed himself into his guard stance. “Your highness, it’s time for your lesson. You’ll have to leave the books for another time.”

Primly, Zelda lowered her book back to the table. It was a tome about various arrows, which was not useful to divine research at all, but hopefully, Impa wouldn’t notice. As she rose from her chair though, the princess underestimated how weak in the knees she was and fell into a heap right there on the floor. Impa exclaimed in worry, but Link was already there offering a gloved hand to help her up.

“Goodness, Impa, I’m fine! You know I’m just clumsy.”

As Zelda took Link’s hand in hers, she noticed that the royal-issued white leather of his glove glistened, wet to the touch.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, if someone would please message me about Link's sign language. I think it's important to represent all kinds of people if it's at all possible, but I recognize that I'm in no way perfect. I don't speak sign or am familiar with it at all sadly. It someone that has more knowledge about it could help, I would totally be willing to change anything that needs changing. Thanks!


End file.
